David Cossini, Parkes Elvis Festival (PEOPLE 2022)

On the dusty periphery of the Australian outback, five hours drive inland from Sydney, lies a small town called Parkes which is best known for its giant satellite dish and for hosting the largest Elvis Festival in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1992, a pair of diehard Elvis fans set up a one-night event at a Parkes restaurant to commemorate the King of Rock and Roll’s birthday. Two hundred people turned up to celebrate. The following year a hundred more came along and this is how the annual Parkes Elvis Festival was born. Now every year in early January, this farming community dusts off its bejewelled jumpsuits to celebrate the life, the music and the legend of Elvis Presley. My photos are Portraits made of some of the characters I met at this years festival.

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